Interesting Times

Hi Everyone,

We're scrambling to keep up with events as they happen, but here is what's done so far:

A transcript of Beth Walsh's opening remarks at the 2/26/09 Future of UVM Forum is now available on the SC website.

The SC Office staff are working on getting the audio file and eventually(hopefully) the video mounted on the website too. A video of highlights is posted on today's Burlington Free Press homepage- along with a text copy of President Fogel's opening remarks. There are also slides and articles posted at the Vermont Cynic. I'll pass along to you any more updates we get as they come.

The next full Staff Council meeting is Tuesday March 3rd at 12:05 in the Livak Ballroom of the Davis Center. Remember that these meetings are open to all the UVM community, and you are welcome to come listen and/or participate. The agenda is available on the Staff Council website or in printable format here.

Professor Patricia Prelock, Chair in the Department of Communications Sciences at UVM, will be speaking on Leadership from 12:15-12:45pm, and we'll also be taking nominations and then voting to choose two (2) Staff Council Representatives to serve on the Staff Council Nominating Committee. This committee is only called to action in the event that we need to nominate a new President or Vice -President, which doesn't often occur, but it is important as a contingency for it to be already in place. Please see: UVM Staff Council Bylaws-Article X.: Nominating Committee for more information and feel free to contact the Staff Council Office with any questions or concerns.

That's all for now--try not to blow away in our pre-Spring breezes, and have a good weekend,

Joanne

More Current Events

Hi Everyone,

We've received several documents to share concerning current events from the BOT, the Staff Council Office, and the SGA (Student Government Association). Most of them are in a PDF format, which I can't directly post here because of a Google Docs incompatibility issue. So, here are the workarounds:

The Staff Council website has direct links to Beth Walsh's original message to President Fogel and their subsequent correspondence on this matter, including an update regarding Beth's address at last week's Board of Trustees (BOT) meeting.

BOT summaries for both the Budget, Finance, and Investment Committee (BFI) and the Educational Policy and Institutional Resources Committee (EPIR), along with further commentary from our Staff Representatives on these committees, will be posted online through my own zoospace until I know where else they'll be made accessible. See the Reports/Documents column at the right.

The email sent to students and shared with staff last Friday from SGA President Jay Taylor is posted right here in a Word.doc format.

Thanks very much for reading through all these; keeping informed is worth the time spent! Don't forget that if you can't make it to the forum on Thursday, you can send in questions to the SC Office and they'll make every effort to get them to President Fogel beforehand.

Have a good week,

Joanne

February Thaw

Hi Everyone,

Here are some more updates and notices--

New Summary Feature

To give members more timely information, there will now be a "Staff Council Meeting Summary" posted on the Council website within a few days after the meetings. These won't be as detailed or bound to approval as the minutes, but they should provide a reasonably complete overview of the proceedings. You can read February's Summary here on the Staff Council website.

The February Staffline is there too, including a note from President Beth Walsh, informational articles, volunteer opportunities, and of course plenty of staff discounts.


Working Group Updates

I did tell the Staff Council Office of the many requests I received from staff to be kept abreast of any further correspondence regarding the working group appointments. The Office replied and asked me to convey to you that Beth Walsh:

"did receive a response from President Fogel in regards to her letter about the Working Group and she in turn responded back. [We]..ask that you let your colleagues know basically the main point of the correspondence which is there will be no changes to the working group and that Beth is asking staff to extend to President Fogel some good faith on this issue since staff have many other opportunities to serve at UVM.

Beth also made a point to mention the working group during her BOT address on Friday Feb. 6th. In addition, she stated that Staff Council does not support the lay off of any employee at UVM and that this phased plan for lay offs, while practical because of the state funding issues, may cause more worry amongst staff."

If we hear anything more on this topic I'll pass it along as I get it.


Women's Award Call

We've received a call for nominations from the Women’s Center & Women’s and Gender Studies Program for their 7th Annual Women’s Awards. These awards celebrate "those women, and men as allies in our community, who actively promote, support and encourage inclusion of women at all levels of university life".

The descriptions and criteria, along with the paper nomination form, are posted here. The online form is posted here on the Women's Center website. Nomination deadline is February 18th, 2009!


So, be careful on the roads tonight, and everyone have a good upcoming President's Day,

Joanne